A conventional combination padlock includes an U-shaped shackle rotatably mounted in a lock body, in which the U-shaped shackle should be pulled outwardly and then rotated for an angle for unlocking a staple locked within the U-shaped shackle, causing an inconvenient unlocking or locking operation for the padlock.
A conventional combination padlock of U.S. Pat. No. 5,042,277 to J. R. Chern discloses a movable lock latch (50) pivotally mounted on a shaft projection (11) formed on an upper side corner of the housing (10) and a lock hook (14) engageable with the movable lock latch (50) for locking the padlock. Whenever unlocking the padlock, the button (31) can be depressed to bias the lock bar (53) inwardly downwardly to separate from the lock hook (14) for opening purpose. However, the lock bar (53) has a free tapered end portion cooperative with another free end portion of the lock hook (14) when locking the padlock but lacking any protective means for shielding the free end portions of the bar (53) and the hook (14), which may be easily broken or damaged by an intruder to thereby lose its locking effect. Meanwhile, when opening the lock, the bar (53) is biased inwardly from the hook (14) with only a small opening angle as limited by the protrusions 51, 52 so that it can not be used for locking a staple or an object of larger volume.
The present inventor has found the drawbacks of the conventional padlock and invented the present combination padlock with a hasp pivotally biased sidewardly at a large angle.